Women’s team finishes fall season in Memphis

BY ANDRES FOCIL

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Arkansas women’s tennis team will be concluding the fall portion of its schedule this weekend at the Memphis Classic in Memphis, Tenn. This is the third and final tournament of the calendar year before the team starts its spring matches in early January.

Only two players will be making the trip to Memphis. Freshman Catherine Parenteau and sophomore Laurie Gingras will see action in their second tournament as Razorbacks. Both will be taking part in the singles draw and teaming up in the doubles draw.

"We’ve been preparing pretty well for the tournament this weekend," Arkansas head coach Michael Hegarty said. "Catherine and Laurie are going to play pretty stiff competition, but I think it’ll be a good test for the younger players as they go up against some high quality competition."

Both Parenteau and Gingras did not play in the ITA Central Regional two weeks ago. Their last tournament came at the Buff Invite in Boulder, Colo., where Gingras went 1-1 in singles and Parenteau went 1-2. Gingras advanced to the finals of her flight before dropping a match with Sasi Nemcova of Wyoming, 6-0, 6-3.

The two did team together in the doubles bracket of the same tournament and finished the weekend on the winning side of things at 2-1. After losing their opening match, the Hog duo won two straight by a score of 8-2. Even though this is only the second tournament of the year for both players, Hegarty says they have been preparing well and should have a lot to prove this weekend.

"They have both come a long way," Hegarty said. "The goal with them has been a lot of development in various elements of their games this fall and that has been noticeably happening. It’ll be good for them to go out there and compete again and put it to the test. It just makes more preparation for the spring semester, which is what we use this fall tournaments for. We just want to gain ground for the spring."

Play for the Memphis Classic is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. with doubles and then singles will follow at 1 p.m. A full recap and complete results will be posted online following each day’s play.